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For decades, the importance of the fine arts in children’s education went without question. In recent years, however, the trend has been towards scaling these types of programs back due to budget constraints. This does our children a disservice, however, as more and more studies show the connections between the arts and valuable aspects of a child’s development.

Creative Thinking

While this might seem obvious, you should never underestimate how important it is for children to develop their creative thinking and problem solving skills early on. Fostering a creative environment ensures students grow up to be more self disciplined, able to think outside of the box, and avoid stereotypes. Creative thinking is something which is also highly sought after when it comes to hiring for many positions.

Improved Motor Skills

Learning a musical instrument or taking part in the visual arts at a young age can have a profound impact on your child’s development of fine motor skills. Regular training in the performing arts can have a radical impact on the brain’s development, allowing motor skills to be transferred to other areas as well.

Perseverence

Learning how to express one’s self artistically isn’t just fun, but can be exceptionally challenging. Learning to master a musical instrument or learning to paint a portrait can be incredibly frustrating, and finding the will to persevere and not give up is an experience which can be highly influential for many students. The focused attention required to learn a specific art form has also been been shown to positively effect the brain’s ability to focus on tasks in general.

Improvements In Academics

Fine arts education doesn’t just improve students’ artistic and creative thinking skills, but also offers significant benefits to other areas of academics as well. Studies continue to demonstrate correlation between musical education and achievement in math. The visual arts, such as drawing and painting, offers many benefits to students in terms of visual-spatial skills. Some data also points to higher test scores, attendance, and graduation rates, as well as fewer cases of disciplinary infractions.

Collaboration

Many of the arts, such as theater, band or choir, rely on collaboration between students. This is an essential skill for kids to learn early on, as the value of working with others towards a common goal without necessarily having a solo or lead role is something they will take with them into the workplace and other areas of their lives.